Transcript:

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NAT SOUND UNDER, DOGS BARKING, STREET SOUNDS

Here in the neighborhood of Ejido Maclovio Rojas, Tijuana, most residents have neither electricity nor running water. On a street called Calle Cioac, at the peak of one hill, sits a small property known as "La Gallera."

NAT SOUND UNDER, STREET

La Gallera was supposedly a cockfighting ranch. Neighbors say no one's lived here for years. One man told me the people who used to come to the ranch weren't from here.

ANTONIO/ NEIGHBOR: "Si, habia mucho puros carros nuevos, cosa que.. en este pueblo, no puede andar en este carro. Y venían este tipo de carro, camionetas [grande]."English VOICEOVER: "They were all new cars, and in this town you can't drive cars like that. And those kind of cars were coming, like new trucks."

La Gallera's hilltop location offers a panoramic view of the surrounding dusty valleys filled with makeshift homes. This is one of the poorer parts of Tijuana, isolated and largely left alone by police.

That’s Fernando Ocegueda. He says this is an excellent place for those involved in organized crime. He's the founder of in Baja California's Association of the Families of the Disappeared.

Ocegueda: "Es importante aquí se que conozca este predio, representa mucha esperanza por muchas familias. Porque hay muchas familias que subiberon buscando sus hijos por alrededor casi 5, 6 años.."ENGLISH VOICEOVER: "It's very important for us to know about this location, this land, it represents a lot of hope for a lot of people. There are still families looking for their sons and daughters for five, six years."

The number of people who remain missing in Mexico due to organized crime is estimated to be as high as 25,000. In the state of Baja California, Fernando Ocegueda has been leading the search for five years. His own son Fernando went missing in 2007.

This body-dumping site at La Gallera was revealed by Santiago Meza, the man known as El Pozolero or “the stew-maker.” Meza worked for drug cartels in Tijuana at the height of the city's drug violence. He dissolved bodies of people who had been executed or kidnapped in acid.

Fernando Ocegueda has been here, at the site, every day. Sometimes he just stands alone, smoking Marlboros and watching. Other times, families join him. After five years, the authorities know him well.

He was allowed onto the property to take photos. He describes their uncovering of the pits: